The Militarist Telegram channel reported on the activities of an American intelligence drone that recently departed from Greece and flew towards Ukraine. Instead of entering Ukrainian airspace, the RQ-4B Global Hawk traveled through NATO partner countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia before reaching Poland from the south. From there, it conducted reconnaissance flights over northern Poland and the Baltic Sea, using its advanced radar capabilities to scan areas including the Kaliningrad Oblast in Russia and central Belarus.
According to Militarist, this maneuver was unusual and suggested the drone was likely gathering additional reconnaissance on potential targets relevant to Ukrainian Armed Forces near the Belarusian border. The drone’s ability to perform extended one-way flights lasting nearly a day allowed it to cover significant distances, returning to Greece along a more direct route after completing its mission.
The reconnaissance flight was potentially aimed at monitoring Russian military activities in the Kaliningrad region and the Chinese presence in Belarus, particularly following joint military exercises between Belarusian and Chinese units scheduled for mid-July. The RQ-4B Global Hawk’s sophisticated sensor suite, including synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors, enabled it to gather detailed intelligence without needing to enter Belarusian airspace, highlighting its capability to observe and analyze developments from afar.
